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"One of our goals as a company is to represent diversity as a value," Brown says. Titled "Women Rule," the menu comprised cocktails inspired or invented by women. In January, during inauguration week and around the time of the women's march, Columbia Room brought in women from across the country to guest-bartend. to concerns about President Donald Trump's willingness to explore the city. The conversation ranges from gentrification to the Obamas' adventurous dining practices in D.C.
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"Rich, poor, black, white, it's a place where D.C. "Shaw is the greatest neighborhood in D.C.," he says.
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It's a reason he decided to open his establishments in Shaw. It's astonishing seeing it come together."Įnsconced in the private booth in Columbia Room's Tasting Room, Brown says one of the strengths of his business is his willingness to embrace all people. "He always brings a lot of fun to what he's doing," said Rawlings, who has been to all of Brown's establishments and pop-ups. Before it was a thing, he was doing craft cocktails. "With him, you are getting a history lesson with your drink. "He's a fun and brilliant restaurateur," Rawlings said. resident, has been a loyal customer since Brown first started out as a bartender at Rocky's, a bar and restaurant in Adams Morgan. Lynette Rawlings, a policy researcher and lifelong D.C. His wife, Angie Fetherston, is the CEO of Drink Co., the umbrella entity that oversees all of Brown's properties. He's a very geeky, nerdy, bartendery type of guy," said Columbia Room's head bartender, John Patrick "JP" Fetherston, who has worked with Brown for seven years. He's also the chief spirits adviser for the National Archives Foundation. The Library takes on special meaning for Brown, an avid reader who sits on the D.C. It's in an inauspicious red-brick square building - atop Michelin-starred The Dabney - in the middle of a tranquil alley.Ĭolumbia Room is split into the Punch Garden, a glass-roofed patio with a resort feel the dimly lit Tasting Room, which features a prix-fixe menu of cocktails and small bites ($79 or $108) and the Spirits Library, a lounge where customers can order cocktails amid books, rich polished leather chairs, chandeliers and table-top container candles. The eager crowd, which has now started flooding the bars, eats it up, and appreciates the effort.Ī five-minute SUV ride from the pulsating go-go music, Brown arrives at his crown jewel, Columbia Room.
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The work is done almost entirely by staff, not professional artists. It has been so popular, that customers are now required to leave ID with the bartender when receiving the drink to thwart theft of the cups.īrown says that the effort to transform the existing bars into themed pop-ups takes about six weeks. One - a sweet, milky and slightly sour concoction called the Neko Colada - is served in a ceramic cat-shaped glass. Several bartenders dressed in suspenders and oversized newsboy-style caps have taken on the persona of Mario and Luigi.Īnd of course, the cocktails are memorable. He walks into the adjoining Mockingbird Hill, the Super Mario Brothers themed half of the pop-up, which features billowing cloud puffs, red mushroom caps and glowing geometric brick boxes suspended above. Impatient passersby - the concept ends April 15 - try to open the locked door only to scowl and sulk back into the line.
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Then, he says, "It's emails with 'Sesame Street' on in the background."Īt the cherry blossom pop-up at Southern Efficiency, Brown glances out the windows as the crowd has swelled in anticipation of the 5 p.m. This day, like most, started at 6 a.m., when he got his 2-year-old son, Avery Strummer, ready for the day.